4 Things We Learned From Wyndham CEO on Squawk Box

For the hotel industry, the early booking pattern for this summer, if it translates at other chains, is a nice omen of sweet things to come.

— Dennis Schaal

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Wyndham Worldwide CEO Stephen Holmes says guest behavior is changing as travelers are planning and booking earlier than before, and summer bookings are well ahead of last year.

Here are four things we learned about summer travel trends from Holmes’ appearance on CNBC Squawk Box June 12:

1. Wyndham Worldwide, which gets the bulk of its revenue from its economy brands, has seen its advance bookings for July and August up 12% year over year.

Travelers are planning and booking earlier, says Holmes, adding: “This is something different than we’ve seen in the past.”

2. In Europe, where Wyndham’s business is tilted toward vacation rentals and timeshares, bookings for the summer are up more than 10% compared with last year.

3. Wyndham has not been able to raise rates as quickly as it anticipated it would, Holmes said. That may be unpleasant news for Wyndham, but it’s good news for travelers and their budgets.

4. Wyndham’s revenue per available room, which divides revenue by the number of available rooms, has been trending in the first quarter and so far in the second quarter higher that the 4% to 6% that the chain anticipated.

If trends at Wyndham find a parallel for the hotel industry as a whole, then this could be a very nice summer for the hotel industry.

Here’s the video interview:

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